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The Reviews for Ulzana's Raid (1972)

Reviewed bySpikeopathVote: 9/10/10Apache renegade Ulzana goes on a murder raid, hot on his trail is aposse of cavalrymen. Led by the young and inexperienced Lt. GarnettDeBuin, the cavalrymen in order to survive and defeat Ulzana, must relyon the help of tough old scout McIntosh and his trusty Indian friend,Ke-Ni-Tay.

Directed masterfully by Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen & The LongestYard), Ulzana's Raid is just shy of being an uncompromisingmasterpiece. There is no pandering to political correctness here, thisis showing the bitter hostility of the Indian war, torture andmurderous inclination is the order of the day. The allegories toVietnam are hard to ignore as our band of men are struggling out in thewilderness against Ulzana's hostile raiders, the sprawling mountainouslandscape another tool to the already handily equipped Apache.

What lifts Ulzana's Raid high above many of its contemporaries is itson the money dialogue. A wonderfully complex script from Alan Sharpmanages to make all the characters intriguing and deserving of furtherdelving. The Apache are savage, and Aldrich doesn't flinch from showingthis, but they are afforded respect, and crucially, understanding.Ulzana's Raid could quite easily have been a one sided blood lettingexercise in Western folklore, but it isn't. The motives and attitudesof the white man party is there for all to scrutinise, with muchattention to detail given as the many conversations bring rich andrewarding results to the discerning viewer. From the off it's evidentthat McIntosh & DeBuin have vastly different views of Ulzana's actions,but as the film moves forward; all manner of questions leap out, be itChristian values, racial hatred or merely imperialistic trust; allparties involved are hurtling towards the final reckoning.

Burt Lancaster is perfect as McIntosh, grizzled and carrying a framemade for such a rigorous terrain. Playing DeBuin is Bruce Davison,boyish charm fused expertly with unwanted bravado, while stealing thefilm is Jorge Luke as Ke-Ni-Tay. A performance of great depth thatholds and binds the picture brilliantly. Sadly this film has been avictim of much interference over the years, (studio and Lancasterhimself to blame), so much so there is thought to be about 6 cuts ofthe film out there in the home entertainment world. Thankfully we arenow able to get a cut of the film that is almost complete, but stillthere remains to this day no definitive full cut of the film. German(the version I own) and Australian releases proclaim to have it uncut,but that's not accurate because there is still some three minutesmissing from the very first cut of it: including a quite crucialsequence involving Sergeant and Trooper Miller. Still, it has to besaid that even with 3 minutes chopped out of it, Ulzana's Raid is stilla grim and brilliant piece of work. Showing the savagery from bothsides of the fence, Aldrich and his team refuse to cop out and panderto formula. 9/10

Reviewed byalexandre michel liberman (tmwest)Vote: 9/10/10During years I avoided seeing `Ulzana's Raid' because the title gave me theidea that it was a spaghetti western of which I had seen my share. I saw ita couple of days ago and was impressed. This is a film that goes into themind of the Indian , and also of the Lieutenant whose father is a ministerand has strong Christian feelings. The two of them live in two differentworlds and for the officer to understand Ulzana is a very hard task, itdoes not relate to anything his father taught him. Nevertheless figuring outUlzana isessential for his mission and he is coached into that by Burt Lancaster andKe-Ni-Tay, an Indian scout. Ulzana kills every homesteader he finds, he mustknow that ultimately he is going to be caught, it is just a question oftime. Lancaster is a master in strategy, but so is Ulzana, who at timesseems like a maestro orienting his men. The brains here count more than theweapons. This is Aldrich's best film, he redeemed himself from `The LastSunset.'

Reviewed byscttwortmanVote: 9/10/10The only reason I have not given this movie a "10" is that I might findsomething wrong with it on subsequent viewings. If anybody knows ofthis film being available widescreen, unedited, and not bootlegged, letme know where. My high definition TV does not forgive picture flaws.Otherwise I will be patient for a remaster. As someone who is anamateur historian of the Indian wars, I can tell you this is the mostaccurate dramatization of the campaign against the Apaches ever filmed.Accurate history is presented in the fact that the Apaches were thedominant tribe of the southwest {the Comanches in Texas might have beentheir rival}. Ask the Puebloes, who actually welcomed the white man, asa buffer against the Apache. The Apache dominated the southwest longbefore the Spanish ever showed up. Their spiritual philosophy of"taking a man's power" was shared by other warlike Indian tribes allthe way to the east coast {see "Last of the Mohicans", Mann's version}.The film manages to also be great western drama as well as a historylesson.There is no moral judgment, only the way it was. The cast issuperb.Lancaster, Davidson, The Hispanic Indian actors. RichardJaeckel, and Karl Swenson {two workhorse character actors, who turnedin performances of a lifetime}. All these guys plus director Aldrichand the writers knew they were working on something special. Even thePC edited version is worth seeing. A great Cavalry/Indian western,maybe the best!

The Plot Summary for Ulzana's Raid (1972)

Report reaches the US cavalry that the Apache leader Ulzana has left his reservation with a band of followers. A compassionate young officer, Lieutenant DeBuin, is given a small company to find him and bring him back; accompanying the troop is McIntosh, an experienced scout, and Ke-Ni-Tay, an Apache guide. Ulzana massacres, rapes and loots across the countryside; and as DeBuin encounters the remains of his victims, he is compelled to learn from McIntosh and to confront his own naiveté and hidden prejudice.